Coastal Cities Must Adapt to Survive Climate Change

The consequences of climate change are becoming more real. Catastrophe films are not that far from reality, although in this type of productions they show sudden natural disasters and the reality is that we are already experiencing them and they continue to increase and accelerate with the passage of time and become more chaotic . The reports presented by international organizations suggest that if we do not take effective and immediate action, we will be closer than ever to the extinction of planet earth and the human race .

One of the territories to which this problem is more real are the coastal cities, which although they have been historically recognized for their commercial ease as they are also ports, in the coming years they would be facing catastrophes due to their unprivileged location.

Why are coastal cities in danger?

Greenhouse gases and emissions that are produced by unsustainable industries around the world cause global temperatures to rise. When the global temperature increases, the ice caps melt and the sea level rises . This implies, of course, that coastal cities, small islands and Arctic populations are threatened by rising sea levels.

Also read: Why is the Condor of the Andes in Danger of Extinction?

Basically what will happen is that we will see the myth of Atlantis becoming thurth: an entire city under the sea. These territories are exposed to the first large-scale catastrophic blows. We have already seen tsunamis devastate cities in recent decades; now this could become more common than we expect.

The urgency about this fact has grown in recent weeks due to a preliminary report of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC) of the UN, which mentions that coastal cities are on the "front line" of change climate. Likewise, it is estimated that, by 2050, more than 300 million people will be affected and / or forced to leave their homes , as these types of territories will become deadly territories.

The whole world must adapt

The problem with global warming is not only global warming per se, but also its "mythological" character. There is so much talk about it in terms of what will happen in the future that little attention is paid to what is happening now and to the urgency of taking immediate decisions and actions to avoid those consequences. In addition, it is worth noting that the large industries that have created their millions from unsustainable productions, and that fear change because it can affect their pockets, have been in charge of creating a halo of mysticism and lies around climate change , marking it out as something that is not important now and does not affect the human being directly at this time. But they are claims based on privilege, because today the most vulnerable communities are living the consequences of climate change.

And it is that it is not only the coastal cities, those that are in the first line, which must adapt to avoid or lessen the consequences that we will see in the next thirty years. Society as a whole must understand that just as the most vulnerable come first, and now coastal cities are in the eye of the hurricane, the rest of the territories are just the next link in a chain of victims that will claim the destruction that we ourselves have provoked.

The solution is clear: greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced in order to maintain the temperature at a level that avoids the catastrophes that Hollywood has exploited so much. Now, from words to facts there is a long way, but if that path does not start right now, there will be no story to tell.